1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a disposable nursing pad which can be worn again after breast-feeding, and which does not lose shape during breast-feeding.
2. Related Art
In general, a great amount of a mother's milk is secreted in response to the sucking stimulation from a baby. However, in some cases, the mother's milk leaks without such a sucking stimulation. Also, the left and right breasts both respond together. Accordingly, when a mother's breast feeds a baby, the mother's milk is also secreted from the other breast. In order to keep a wearer's clothing dry from such undesired leakage of the mother's milk, a nursing mother wears nursing pads in contact with the inner face of the wearer's underclothing such as a bra or the like, which envelope the breasts, thereby absorbing excess milk.
In general, a nursing mother, wearing a nursing pad on the inner face of a bra, displaces the bra downward and obliquely to expose her breast. In this stage, the nursing pad is sandwiched between the bra and the outer face of the lower portion of the breast, leading to the application of pressure on the nursing pad. This often leads to the nursing pad losing its shape. A nursing pad which has lost its shape is adhered to the inner face of the bras without recovery of shape due to the action of an adhesive applied to the clothing for preventing displacement of the nursing pad. This leads to difficulty for the wearer when wearing the nursing pad again in a restored state.
On the other hand, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-178805 (herein after Patent document 1) discloses a nursing pad having a structure in which recessed grooves 110 are formed across the portion which is to be in contact with the wearer's nipple (see FIG. 10). With such a nursing pad disclosed in Patent document 1, the nursing pad is manufactured without heat application. This provides a dome-shaped nursing pad corresponding to the shape of the wearer's breast while keeping the nursing pad feeling soft.
As described above, the nursing pad disclosed in Patent document 1 has a structure in which the recessed grooves 110 are formed on both sides across the portion which is to be in contact with the wearer's nipple. However, the portions where the recessed grooves 110 are formed differ from the portions along which the nursing pad often twists at the time of breast-feeding. Accordingly, the nursing pad easily twists excessively with each of the recessed grooves 110 as a folding axis, leading to the nursing pad losing its shape. This leads to difficulty in the wearer wearing the nursing pad again.
The present invention has been made in view of the aforementioned problems. Accordingly, it is an object thereof to provide a disposable nursing pad which can be worn again after breast-feeding, and which does not lose its shape during breast-feeding.